Managing the display of hidden proprietary software code to authorized licensed users

ABSTRACT

A method and system for allowing an independent software vendor (ISV) access to proprietary software code for software of an organization has been developed. An ISV generates a login request that masquerades as a user of the software. A license management system that controls access to the software, is accessed and determines if two session IDs are present. The presence of two separate session IDs identifies the ISV and if detected, the ISV is allowed access to the proprietary software code. Finally, the organization is notified about the ISV&#39;s access to the proprietary software code.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the subject matter described herein relate generally to displaying software code. More particularly, embodiments of the subject matter relate to displaying hidden proprietary software code to authorized licensed users.

BACKGROUND

Protecting proprietary information and intellectual property such as source code software is very important to organizations involved in software development and management. However, it is important for developers and users to have access to such information that is normally hidden and protected for troubleshooting, etc. Accordingly, it is desirable to display hidden proprietary software code to authorized licensed users. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the subject matter may be derived by referring to the detailed description and claims when considered in conjunction with the following figures, wherein like reference numbers refer to similar elements throughout the figures.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of a system for allowing an independent software vendor (ISV) to access hidden proprietary software code;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a method for allowing an ISV to access hidden proprietary software code; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary multi-tenant computing environment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A method and system for allowing an independent software vendor (ISV) access to hidden proprietary software code has been developed. An ISV is a software developer who develops code that is installed in an organization software. Once installed, the software is usually a “managed package” which is source code whose contents are hidden from an ordinary user of the organization's software. The source code is hidden to protect its' proprietary content from unauthorized access.

Some embodiments of the system and method selectively and dynamically allow ISVs the ability to see a managed package that is usually hidden from ordinary users. The method is accomplished with the use of “login-as” functionality. The login-as functionality allows an organization to grant an ISV (or other authorized person) permission to temporarily login as an ordinary user of the organization software without having to expose any credentials. In effect, the ISV is allowed to masquerade as an ordinary user to access the software. The advantage of this method is that certain software bugs can only be debugged as a user of the organization software. In some embodiments, the login-as function is part of a license management application.

Once an ISV is granted login-as access, the ISV is allowed to see a managed package that would otherwise be hidden. Typically, the ISV is only allowed to see a managed package that was developed by that ISV. Different ISVs may only be allowed to access the managed packages that they are responsible for developing and they may not be allowed access to all proprietary software of the organization. The login-as functionality is typically available through a license management system.

When the ISV uses login-access, the ISV is masquerading as a current user of the organization software as mentioned previously. However, the ISV is identified by the detection of the presence of two separate's session IDs: one for the user and a second for the login-as user. A “session ID” is a piece of data that is used in network communications to identify a session or a series of related message exchanges. Session IDs become necessary in cases where the communications infrastructure uses a stateless protocol such as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). A session ID is typically granted to a visitor on the initial visit to a site. It is typically short-lived and expires after a preset time of inactivity and it may become invalid after a certain goal has been met.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a block diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of a system 10 for allowing an ISV to access hidden proprietary software code. In this embodiment, the ISV 12 submits a login request to the license management system 14. The license management system 14 determines if the login request has two separate session IDs which indicate the use of the login-as function by the ISV 12. If the login-as usage is confirmed, the ISV 12 is allowed to access the appropriate managed package of source code stored in a database 16. The license management system 14 notifies the organization 18 of the login-as access granted to the ISV 12. In this embodiment as described, the ISV using the license management system needs a specific user permission (e.g., view and debug permission) in order to see the managed code after executing a login-as function.

Turning now to FIG. 2, a flowchart is shown of an exemplary embodiment of a method 20 for allowing an ISV to access hidden proprietary software code. The first step involves receiving a login request for the organization software 22. In some embodiments, the login request may be received via an application program interface (API) that is used by the ISV or an ordinary user. Once the request is received, the license management system is accessed 24. The system determines whether the user has two separate session IDs 26 granted by the login-as function. A “session ID” is an encoded string that contains some identifying information such as a user ID, an organization ID, etc. In this embodiment, the license management system upon execution of a login-as function, recognizes: the ISV's identity; the ISV's destination; the ISV's access permissions; and the ISV's allowed actions. As a result, the system will generate two separate session IDs for an authorized ISV in accordance with this information.

If two session IDs are not present, the user is allowed to login with normal access 28 while the proprietary code is hidden. If two session IDs are detected, the user is recognized as an ISV masquerading as an ordinary user 30. Once the ISV is recognized, access to the protected proprietary code is granted 32 and the organization is notified 34. In some embodiments, the proprietary software code may be source code. In other embodiments, the software code is written in an object oriented programming (OOP) language and the proprietary software code is a “managed object class”. The key distinction is that the proprietary software code is normally hidden from view to protect its' confidential content. Once the ISV gains access, the ISV is authorized to troubleshoot the proprietary software code including using debugging tools. In other embodiments, the ISV may upgrade the proprietary software code.

It would be advantageous to display hidden proprietary software code authorized licensed users. Embodiments of the subject matter described herein generally relate to techniques for allowing authorized users access to normally hidden proprietary software code. The disclosed embodiments described below may be implemented in a wide variety of different computer-based systems, architectures and platforms which may include a multi-tenant system. Additionally, the disclosed embodiments may be implemented using mobile devices, etc.

Turning now to FIG. 3, an exemplary multi-tenant system 100 includes a server 102 that dynamically creates and supports virtual applications 128 based upon data 132 from a database 130 that may be shared between multiple tenants, referred to herein as a multi-tenant database. Data and services generated by the virtual applications 128 are provided via a network 145 to any number of client devices 140, as desired. Each virtual application 128 is suitably generated at run-time (or on-demand) using a common application platform 110 that securely provides access to the data 132 in the database 130 for each of the various tenants subscribing to the multi-tenant system 100. In accordance with one non-limiting example, the multi-tenant system 100 is implemented in the form of a system that can support any number of authenticated users of multiple tenants.

As used herein, a “tenant” or an “organization” should be understood as referring to a group of one or more users that shares access to common subset of the data within the multi-tenant database 130. In this regard, each tenant includes one or more users associated with, assigned to, or otherwise belonging to that respective tenant. Stated another way, each respective user within the multi-tenant system 100 is associated with, assigned to, or otherwise belongs to a particular one of the plurality of tenants supported by the multi-tenant system 100. Tenants may represent companies, corporate departments, business or legal organizations, and/or any other entities that maintain data for particular sets of users (such as their respective customers) within the multi-tenant system 100. Although multiple tenants may share access to the server 102 and the database 130, the particular data and services provided from the server 102 to each tenant can be securely isolated from those provided to other tenants. The multi-tenant architecture therefore allows different sets of users to share functionality and hardware resources without necessarily sharing any of the data 132 belonging to or otherwise associated with other tenants.

The multi-tenant database 130 may be a repository or other data storage system capable of storing and managing the data 132 associated with any number of tenants. The database 130 may be implemented using conventional database server hardware. In various embodiments, the database 130 shares processing hardware 104 with the server 102. In other embodiments, the database 130 is implemented using separate physical and/or virtual database server hardware that communicates with the server 102 to perform the various functions described herein. In an exemplary embodiment, the database 130 includes a database management system or other equivalent software capable of determining an optimal query plan for retrieving and providing a particular subset of the data 132 to an instance of virtual application 128 in response to a query initiated or otherwise provided by a virtual application 128, as described in greater detail below. The multi-tenant database 130 may alternatively be referred to herein as an on-demand database, in that the multi-tenant database 130 provides (or is available to provide) data at run-time to on-demand virtual applications 128 generated by the application platform 110, as described in greater detail below.

In practice, the data 132 may be organized and formatted in any manner to support the application platform 110. In various embodiments, the data 132 is suitably organized into a relatively small number of large data tables to maintain a semi-amorphous “heap”-type format. The data 132 can then be organized as needed for a particular virtual application 128. In various embodiments, conventional data relationships are established using any number of pivot tables 134 that establish indexing, uniqueness, relationships between entities, and/or other aspects of conventional database organization as desired. Further data manipulation and report formatting is generally performed at run-time using a variety of metadata constructs. Metadata within a universal data directory (UDD) 136, for example, can be used to describe any number of forms, reports, workflows, user access privileges, business logic and other constructs that are common to multiple tenants. Tenant-specific formatting, functions and other constructs may be maintained as tenant-specific metadata 138 for each tenant, as desired. Rather than forcing the data 132 into an inflexible global structure that is common to all tenants and applications, the database 130 is organized to be relatively amorphous, with the pivot tables 134 and the metadata 138 providing additional structure on an as-needed basis. To that end, the application platform 110 suitably uses the pivot tables 134 and/or the metadata 138 to generate “virtual” components of the virtual applications 128 to logically obtain, process, and present the relatively amorphous data 132 from the database 130.

The server 102 may be implemented using one or more actual and/or virtual computing systems that collectively provide the dynamic application platform 110 for generating the virtual applications 128. For example, the server 102 may be implemented using a cluster of actual and/or virtual servers operating in conjunction with each other, typically in association with conventional network communications, cluster management, load balancing and other features as appropriate. The server 102 operates with any sort of conventional processing hardware 104, such as a processor 105, memory 106, input/output features 107 and the like. The input/output features 107 generally represent the interface(s) to networks (e.g., to the network 145, or any other local area, wide area or other network), mass storage, display devices, data entry devices and/or the like. The processor 105 may be implemented using any suitable processing system, such as one or more processors, controllers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, processing cores and/or other computing resources spread across any number of distributed or integrated systems, including any number of “cloud-based” or other virtual systems. The memory 106 represents any non-transitory short or long term storage or other computer-readable media capable of storing programming instructions for execution on the processor 105, including any sort of random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory, magnetic or optical mass storage, and/or the like. The computer-executable programming instructions, when read and executed by the server 102 and/or processor 105, cause the server 102 and/or processor 105 to create, generate, or otherwise facilitate the application platform 110 and/or virtual applications 128 and perform one or more additional tasks, operations, functions, and/or processes described herein. It should be noted that the memory 106 represents one suitable implementation of such computer-readable media, and alternatively or additionally, the server 102 could receive and cooperate with external computer-readable media that is realized as a portable or mobile component or platform, e.g., a portable hard drive, a USB flash drive, an optical disc, or the like.

The application platform 110 is any sort of software application or other data processing engine that generates the virtual applications 128 that provide data and/or services to the client devices 140. In a typical embodiment, the application platform 110 gains access to processing resources, communications interfaces and other features of the processing hardware 104 using any sort of conventional or proprietary operating system 108. The virtual applications 128 are typically generated at run-time in response to input received from the client devices 140. For the illustrated embodiment, the application platform 110 includes a bulk data processing engine 112, a query generator 114, a search engine 116 that provides text indexing and other search functionality, and a runtime application generator 120. Each of these features may be implemented as a separate process or other module, and many equivalent embodiments could include different and/or additional features, components or other modules as desired.

The runtime application generator 120 dynamically builds and executes the virtual applications 128 in response to specific requests received from the client devices 140. The virtual applications 128 are typically constructed in accordance with the tenant-specific metadata 138, which describes the particular tables, reports, interfaces and/or other features of the particular application 128. In various embodiments, each virtual application 128 generates dynamic web content that can be served to a browser or other client program 142 associated with its client device 140, as appropriate.

The runtime application generator 120 suitably interacts with the query generator 114 to efficiently obtain multi-tenant data 132 from the database 130 as needed in response to input queries initiated or otherwise provided by users of the client devices 140. In a typical embodiment, the query generator 114 considers the identity of the user requesting a particular function (along with the user's associated tenant), and then builds and executes queries to the database 130 using system-wide metadata 136, tenant specific metadata 138, pivot tables 134, and/or any other available resources. The query generator 114 in this example therefore maintains security of the common database 130 by ensuring that queries are consistent with access privileges granted to the user and/or tenant that initiated the request.

With continued reference to FIG. 2, the data processing engine 112 performs bulk processing operations on the data 132 such as uploads or downloads, updates, online transaction processing, and/or the like. In many embodiments, less urgent bulk processing of the data 132 can be scheduled to occur as processing resources become available, thereby giving priority to more urgent data processing by the query generator 114, the search engine 116, the virtual applications 128, etc.

In exemplary embodiments, the application platform 110 is utilized to create and/or generate data-driven virtual applications 128 for the tenants that they support. Such virtual applications 128 may make use of interface features such as custom (or tenant-specific) screens 124, standard (or universal) screens 122 or the like. Any number of custom and/or standard objects 126 may also be available for integration into tenant-developed virtual applications 128. As used herein, “custom” should be understood as meaning that a respective object or application is tenant-specific (e.g., only available to users associated with a particular tenant in the multi-tenant system) or user-specific (e.g., only available to a particular subset of users within the multi-tenant system), whereas “standard” or “universal” applications or objects are available across multiple tenants in the multi-tenant system. The data 132 associated with each virtual application 128 is provided to the database 130, as appropriate, and stored until it is requested or is otherwise needed, along with the metadata 138 that describes the particular features (e.g., reports, tables, functions, objects, fields, formulas, code, etc.) of that particular virtual application 128. For example, a virtual application 128 may include a number of objects 126 accessible to a tenant, wherein for each object 126 accessible to the tenant, information pertaining to its object type along with values for various fields associated with that respective object type are maintained as metadata 138 in the database 130. In this regard, the object type defines the structure (e.g., the formatting, functions and other constructs) of each respective object 126 and the various fields associated therewith.

Still referring to FIG. 2, the data and services provided by the server 102 can be retrieved using any sort of personal computer, mobile telephone, tablet or other network-enabled client device 140 on the network 145. In an exemplary embodiment, the client device 140 includes a display device, such as a monitor, screen, or another conventional electronic display capable of graphically presenting data and/or information retrieved from the multi-tenant database 130, as described in greater detail below. Typically, the user operates a conventional browser application or other client program 142 executed by the client device 140 to contact the server 102 via the network 145 using a networking protocol, such as the hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) or the like. The user typically authenticates his or her identity to the server 102 to obtain a session identifier (“SessionID”) that identifies the user in subsequent communications with the server 102. When the identified user requests access to a virtual application 128, the runtime application generator 120 suitably creates the application at run time based upon the metadata 138, as appropriate. As noted above, the virtual application 128 may contain Java, ActiveX, or other content that can be presented using conventional client software running on the client device 140; other embodiments may simply provide dynamic web or other content that can be presented and viewed by the user, as desired. As described in greater detail below, the query generator 114 suitably obtains the requested subsets of data 132 from the database 130 as needed to populate the tables, reports or other features of the particular virtual application 128.

Techniques and technologies may be described herein in terms of functional and/or logical block components, and with reference to symbolic representations of operations, processing tasks, and functions that may be performed by various computing components or devices. Such operations, tasks, and functions are sometimes referred to as being computer-executed, computerized, software-implemented, or computer-implemented. In practice, one or more processor devices can carry out the described operations, tasks, and functions by manipulating electrical signals representing data bits at memory locations in the system memory, as well as other processing of signals. The memory locations where data bits are maintained are physical locations that have particular electrical, magnetic, optical, or organic properties corresponding to the data bits. It should be appreciated that the various block components shown in the figures may be realized by any number of hardware, software, and/or firmware components configured to perform the specified functions. For example, an embodiment of a system or a component may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, digital signal processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, or the like, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices.

When implemented in software or firmware, various elements of the systems described herein are essentially the code segments or instructions that perform the various tasks. The program or code segments can be stored in a processor-readable medium or transmitted by a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave over a transmission medium or communication path. The “processor-readable medium” or “machine-readable medium” may include any medium that can store or transfer information. Examples of the processor-readable medium include an electronic circuit, a semiconductor memory device, a ROM, a flash memory, an erasable ROM (EROM), a floppy diskette, a CD-ROM, an optical disk, a hard disk, a fiber optic medium, a radio frequency (RF) link, or the like. The computer data signal may include any signal that can propagate over a transmission medium such as electronic network channels, optical fibers, air, electromagnetic paths, or RF links. The code segments may be downloaded via computer networks such as the Internet, an intranet, a LAN, or the like.

“Node/Port”—As used herein, a “node” means any internal or external reference point, connection point, junction, signal line, conductive element, or the like, at which a given signal, logic level, voltage, data pattern, current, or quantity is present. Furthermore, two or more nodes may be realized by one physical element (and two or more signals can be multiplexed, modulated, or otherwise distinguished even though received or output at a common node). As used herein, a “port” means a node that is externally accessible via, for example, a physical connector, an input or output pin, a test probe, a bonding pad, or the like.

“Connected/Coupled”—The following description refers to elements or nodes or features being “connected” or “coupled” together. As used herein, unless expressly stated otherwise, “coupled” means that one element/node/feature is directly or indirectly joined to (or directly or indirectly communicates with) another element/node/feature, and not necessarily mechanically. Likewise, unless expressly stated otherwise, “connected” means that one element/node/feature is directly joined to (or directly communicates with) another element/node/feature, and not necessarily mechanically. Thus, although the schematic shown in FIG. 2 depicts one exemplary arrangement of elements, additional intervening elements, devices, features, or components may be present in an embodiment of the depicted subject matter.

In addition, certain terminology may also be used in the following description for the purpose of reference only, and thus are not intended to be limiting. For example, terms such as “upper”, “lower”, “above”, and “below” refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. Terms such as “front”, “back”, “rear”, “side”, “outboard”, and “inboard” describe the orientation and/or location of portions of the component within a consistent but arbitrary frame of reference which is made clear by reference to the text and the associated drawings describing the component under discussion. Such terminology may include the words specifically mentioned above, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import. Similarly, the terms “first”, “second”, and other such numerical terms referring to structures do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context.

For the sake of brevity, conventional techniques related to signal processing, data transmission, signaling, network control, and other functional aspects of the systems (and the individual operating components of the systems) may not be described in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the various figures contained herein are intended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or physical couplings between the various elements. It should be noted that many alternative or additional functional relationships or physical connections may be present in an embodiment of the subject matter.

The foregoing detailed description is merely illustrative in nature and is not intended to limit the embodiments of the subject matter or the application and uses of such embodiments. As used herein, the word “exemplary” means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any implementation described herein as exemplary is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, or detailed description.

While at least one exemplary embodiment has been presented in the foregoing detailed description, it should be appreciated that a vast number of variations exist. It should also be appreciated that the exemplary embodiment or embodiments described herein are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claimed subject matter in any way. Rather, the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing the described embodiment or embodiments. It should be understood that various changes can be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the scope defined by the claims, which includes known equivalents and foreseeable equivalents at the time of filing this patent application. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for regulating access by an independent software vendor (ISV) to proprietary source code for software of an organization, comprising: receiving a login request from the ISV, where the login request masquerades as a user of the software; accessing a license management system in response to the login request, where the license management system is capable of controlling access to the software; determining the presence of two session identifiers (IDs) for the login request comprising a user session ID and a masquerade session ID, where the presence of two separate session IDs identifies the ISV; accessing to the proprietary source code by the ISV with permission from the license management system, where the license management system limits access by the ISV to only the proprietary source code that was developed by the ISV; and notifying the organization of access by the ISV to the proprietary source code.
 2. The method of claim 1, where the proprietary source code is written in an object oriented programming (OOP) language.
 3. The method of claim 2, where the proprietary source code comprises managed object classes.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising authorizing the ISV to troubleshoot the proprietary source code with permission from the license management system.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein troubleshooting the proprietary source code comprises utilizing debugging tools by the ISV.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising authorizing the ISV to upgrade the proprietary source code with permission from the license management system.
 7. A database system comprising a processor in communication with a memory element that has computer-executable instructions stored thereon and configurable to be executed by the processor to cause the database system to: receive a login request from an independent software vendor (ISV), where the login request masquerades as a user of an organization's software; access a license management system in response to the login request, where the license management system is capable of controlling access to proprietary software source code; determine the presence of two session IDs for the login request comprising a user session ID and a masquerade session ID, where the presence of two separate session IDs identifies the ISV; access to the proprietary source code by the ISV with permission from the license management system, where the license management system limits access by the ISV to only the proprietary source code that was developed by the ISV; and notify the organization of access by the ISV to the proprietary software source code.
 8. The database system of claim 7, where the login request is received through an application program interface (API).
 9. The database system of claim 7, where the accessed proprietary software comprises a managed package.
 10. The database system of claim 9, where the proprietary source code is written in an object oriented programming (OOP) language.
 11. The database system of claim 9, where managed package comprises managed object classes. 